Outside Hamleys toy shop on Regent Street in London yesterday a guy stoop on a podium making bubbles. He did this with a smile and some pizzaz for ten minutes and went back inside the shop to another location to demonstrate something else they sell in-store.
I am sure some people entered the shop because of the bubbles.
There are plenty of things newsagents sell that could be demonstrated in this way. We could bounce super balls, play with kinetic sand, squeeze goo, build jigsaws, doodle on a white board, doodle on a massive pad, sing along to sound cards, hug a bear.
If you don’t have products you could demonstrate as effectively as the bubbles, source them. Choose products specifically to enable you to play out the front of your shop. Choose products that speak to how you want people to view your newsagency.
If you do decide to demonstrate products out the front of your shop, make sure that the in-store experience will meet expectations set by what people see out the front.
I loved what I saw at Hamleys yesterday. The theatre out the front of the store was matched by plenty more inside.
Footnote: I decided last week to write about being interactive with what we sell. The Hamleys experience offered a perfect photo opportunity to illustrate my point.